John Lynch seems to be loving post-football life

It’s been nearly two years now since John Lynch last wore a Bronco uniform, but he’s remained tied to the Denver community.

That was never more evident than Thursday, when Lynch’s foundation held its annual Salute the Stars scholarship luncheon at Invesco Field at Mile High and awarded scholarships to a number of local student-athletes. Four graduating seniors with stellar academic, athletic and community service resumes, each received a $10,000 scholarship.

Nearly 1,000 people attended the event, which had to be moved into the lower concourse of the stadium because of the cool weather. Among the VIPs who joined the celebration were Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, who delivered the keynote speech, former Avs star Joe Sakic and current Avalanche star Adam Foote.

Lynch and his family have remained in Denver since his retirement in 2008. Lynch is busy running his foundation, being a full-time dad to his four children — including coaching Little League this spring. He still gets his football fix by working as a color analyst for FOX on Sundays. He said he’s learning to be more critical in his analysis.

Lynch said Thursday that he likes nearly everything McDaniels has done with the Broncos aside from the Jay Cutler trade. Lynch said that as a friend of both Cutler and McDaniels, he wishes the two could have worked together.

“The results could have been special,” Lynch said.

Lynch said he especially liked the Broncos’ offseason moves to revamp its defensive line, saying that that unit had been a “deficiency for a long time.”

“Bottom line, if you’re not strong enough up front, eventually you’ll be exposed, and I think they addressed that,” Lynch said.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.